Monthly Archives: March 2011

I’m slowly trying to get back in to Freud. My advisor described the process as akin to getting into a hot bath and he’s right. Get in too quickly and it hurts like hell, while getting in too slowly leaves no enjoyment either (I’d even say it leaves you cold!). In any case, I’ve been going through my own notes rather than back directly to the texts. I guess it’s a good sign that my own ideas from months ago still seem interesting and valuable. The writing I’ve been going over is mostly on Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Totem and Taboo, and I’m hoping to do something rather soon with the latter (a short article I think). I haven’t talked a lot about Freud publicly, though he’s always there. I had wanted to include a section on him in my Claremont paper, but ended up not having room and even having to cut the material I already had on Nietzsche to get the paper under twenty minutes. Hopefully this little article will give some idea as to what I’m trying to do in my own “return to Freud,” in opposition to the structuralist return.

First though, I’m waiting to be able to finish up my piece for Speculations II. I’m missing a reference and waiting for the book to be recalled so I can find it. Once that’s done, I’ll be diving head-first back in to Freud, trying to get this bit of work done quickly, only to jump right back to post-Kantian and contemporary metaphysics, with work on Schelling, Kant and Meillassoux, then back to Freudian stuff, though by then I’ll be looking at a few ways of reading Freud (structuralist, Freudo-Marxist, therapeutic, and neuro-scientific). Part of that work will involve working through Malabou’s Les Nouveaux Blessés. The plan is to take that work on Freud and Malabou and submit it to the sixteenth volume of theory@buffalo on Malabou, due sometime in September. Sometime in there I wanted to try to write something on Schelling and Laruelle as well. Maybe that will be my submission to CSCP. Anyway, I have to run to a public lecture on Kant and Levinas. More soon.

It is with pleasure we invite you to participate at the following conference, sponsored by EuroPhilosophie (www.europhilosophie.eu) and organized by l’Amicale des étudiants EuroPhilosophie.

Since the philosophical upheaval caused by Kant’s transcendental philosophy, the status of what would later be called “German Idealism” has been anything but clear. On the one hand, the efforts of the major representatives of post-Kantianism only intensified the intrinsic ambiguity of the founding gesture of the tradition. Instead of simply interpreting or expanding Kant, yet all the while attempting to radicalize his original breakthrough, Fichte, Schelling and Hegel developed surprisingly different and opposing systems. On the other hand, the 19th- and 20th-century reception of Hegelianism would have another decisive effect, which would in its own way obfuscate the signification of German Idealism by drastically altering our perception of the tradition as a whole. Not only was Hegel thought to be the culmination of the operative logic of German idealism, which would for a long time prevent us from understanding the works of Fichte and Schelling in and of themselves, but there was also a primordial urge to immanently rethink Hegelian dialectics from the standpoint of historical finitude while being faithful to its fundamental insights, arguing for the implicit and irreducible potential still lurking in this movement.

However, the history of German idealism did not in any way end there. In the 20th century we have seen seen a countless number of virulent attacks against “traditional” metaphysics arise as different philosophical schools demanded us to give up “dead” and “outdated” notions like system and totality, German Idealism often being seen the as the epitome of excessive, unbridled reason. Yet, in the face of these so-called “devastating” critiques, classical German philosophy has not been sentenced to death and banished to the abyssal forgetfulness of a forever lost past. Not only has there been an intense increase of secondary literature in the past decades, but a multitude of contemporary philosophers are returning to this moment in order to develop their own thought. The status of German Idealism remains more ambiguous and uncertain than ever: even two centuries after its emergence, we are still in the wake of German Idealism and feel its effects deep within the internal pulsations of philosophy itself.

Therefore, the goal of this conference is to open up an space within which one approach the reception of German Idealism and address its philosophical heritage. The unifying theme will be the following constellation of questions: Why do we constantly go back to German Idealism and cannot simply rid ourselves one and for all of its fundamental concepts? What could German Idealism teach us today? Are there still non-cultivated resources lurking within the thought of Kant, Fichte, Hegel and Schelling? Are we only able to unearth these resources today by passing through their internal and external critiques? Should we take the risk and plunge headfirst into the tradition in attempting to radicalize it?

Please send a short abstract (200-400 words) for a 20-30 minute presentation to be given in English, French or German to Joseph Carew (jstephencarew[at]gmail.com) and Daniel Pucciarelli (arelli[at]gmail.com) by the 15th of April.

Below is some information on Helvete: A Journal of Black Metal Theory including the Call for Papers for the inaugural volume. I don’t listen to metal at all, but I know a lot of people who read my blog do, so this will be of interest to many of you. Call me when someone starts a journal of Black Coffee Theory.

Helvete is a new open access electronic and print journal of black metal theory.

The editors of Helvete, a new journal of black metal theory, invite submissions for the journal’s inaugural issue. This issue is open topic in two senses. Firstly, it is an open issue in that all submissions appropriate to the journal’s general theme will be considered. Secondly, however, the editors encourage contributors to consider the topic itself open just as the first issue of a periodical publication is its opening. Thus, submissions that interrogate the problematics of beginning and genesis—or of openings, apertures, holes, etc.—at the conjunction of black metal and theory will be given priority. Black metal theory is the practice of the mutual blackening of theory and metal, and thus pushes the limits of contemporary academic genres by definition. In recognition of this, the editors welcome not only proposals for articles, but also for non, para, and protoacademic works, including commentaries, fragments, and visuals. We wish to encourage engagement in black metal theory by whatever means necessary.

Schedule
1 September 2011: Proposals due
1 March 2012: Drafts due
June 2012: Drafts returned with comments
1 September 2012: Final drafts due
Winter 2012: Publication

Proposals may be sent to the editors at helvetejournal@gmail.com
For detailed guidelines, see the Submission Checklist on our website.